Novel Class of Materials for Boron Extraction

The present invention comprises of a novel class of ionic liquid and polymeric ionic liquid materials that are highly selective for boron and serves application in boron extraction.

Value proposition:

The hazardous effects of drinking and irrigation water have resulted in many boron elimination technologies, currently available in the market. However, these technologies lack efficiency, especially in removing the neutral boron species such as boric acid. There is still an unmet demand of an efficient boron treatment method. The current invention addresses the given problem and serves as an efficient and complete boron separation solution. The technology makes use of boron specific binding capability of the novel ionic liquid (IL) materials along with their ability to phase separate with water or any other media. The other advantages include:

·Boron extraction capabilities, much better than the most preferred RO systems

·Commercially affordable and cost effective

·High selectivity and specificity for boron

·High thermal stability and viscosity and thus can be coated as thin films

Dr. Jared Anderson at the University of Toledo has developed a novel method for developing long lasting boron selective coating materials that maintain physical integrity within demanding environments. Specifically, he has synthesized new ionic liquids (ILs), exhibiting high selectivity towards boron species as well as the ability to phase separate from water, from N-methyl-D-glucamine. These ionic liquids comprise of at least one cationic component having at least one functionalized group capable of chelating boron and at least one anionic component. The results provide the evidence that these materials and the separation method can reduce boron content in feed water to less than 0.5 mg/L.